Only now did Shaquille O'Neal realize that Wang Yi had deliberately fumbled the steal.
Because O'Neal was especially wary of Wang Yi's blocks, it was very difficult for Wang Yi to block him head-on. So Wang Yi had come up with a spur-of-the-moment plan: he deliberately pretended to botch a steal, making O'Neal lower his guard and turn his back to him.
Then, when O'Neal jumped to dunk, Wang Yi came from behind and swatted the ball away.
Wang Yi paid no attention to O'Neal's fury. After blocking the shot, he dribbled beyond the three-point line.
O'Neal stuck to the same strategy as before. He ignored Wang Yi beyond the three-point line and stayed under the basket.
This time, when Wang Yi dribbled to just in front of the free-throw line, he paused briefly.
On his previous attempts, he had tossed the ball off the backboard from here, then jumped up and slammed in the rebound.
This time, O'Neal couldn't just sit back and wait. If he let Wang Yi toss the ball off the backboard, there'd be no way to stop him. So he rushed forward to prevent Wang Yi from throwing it up.
But it was actually just a feint, meant to draw O'Neal out.
As soon as O'Neal rushed toward him, Wang Yi suddenly accelerated and drove straight for the basket.
But halfway there, he saw O'Neal suddenly step in front of him.
O'Neal had been playing mind games, too. He'd pretended to charge forward to defend, when in fact he'd been waiting for Wang Yi to drive.
The two of them had eight hundred tricks up their sleeves in a single possession.
But when Wang Yi saw O'Neal standing in front of him, he smoothly pulled the ball in and spun to his right.
He hadn't